Eligible Individuals will be Contacted by Mail; Claims will be Paid Promptly

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Obama today signed into law an extension of emergency unemployment compensation and extended benefits through December 2011.

The law does not provide for additional benefits beyond the currently allowed 99 weeks. Because the law is retroactive, eligible claimants may receive benefits from the time the previous law expired on Nov. 27, 2010.

"This is great news for the 140,000 Pennsylvanians who would have been without unemployment compensation payments in December had Congress and the president not acted to restore this badly needed financial lifeline," said Labor & Industry Secretary Sandi Vito. "We are expediting claim processing to quickly get this money to individuals who are out of work through no fault of their own and need help to pay for food, shelter, utilities and other necessities while they seek to rejoin the workforce.

"All eligible individuals will be contacted by mail and claimants will receive payment as quickly as possible," Vito said.

Claims will be processed immediately for those who continued to file EUC bi-weekly claims for weeks after Nov. 27, 2010, and extended benefits claims for weeks after Dec. 4, 2010.

Eligible individuals who did not file EUC claims after Nov. 27, 2010, are encouraged to do so beginning on Monday, Dec. 20, online at www.uc.pa.gov or through the PA Teleclaims, or PAT, system at 1-888-255-4728.

Claimants who stopped filing paper claims for state extended benefits after Dec. 4 should call the UC service center for instructions on how to resume filing.

Established in 2008, the EUC program provides up to 53 weeks of additional unemployment benefits for individuals who have exhausted the maximum 26 weeks of state benefits. The resumption of federal funding also enables Pennsylvanians to again qualify for up to 20 weeks of state extended benefits.